Eurasia Press & News

Iraqi forces launched an attack on Tuesday to retake the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, the second offensive since extremists took over several cities across the country in June. Army officials told DPA that military forces began their assault on the city from the northern and southern entrances of the city, and …

The death toll in a suicide car bombing in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province has climbed to 89, with more than 40 people wounded. The blast took place on Tuesday when the bomber detonated his explosives—packed vehicle near a crowded market and a mosque in the Urgun district of Paktika province.

Israel, after eight days of cross-border attacks with Gaza, on Tuesday unilaterally accepted an Egyptian-proposed truce, despite earlier rejections by Palestinian armed groups. “The (security) Cabinet has decided to answer positively to the Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire starting today at 9 am (0600 GMT),” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office …

The United Nations Security Council called for “de-escalation” on Saturday evening, in the latest wave of the militarised conflict playing out in the Gaza Strip. The council “expressed serious concern regarding the crisis related to Gaza and the protection and welfare of civilians on both sides”. It called for a …

Egypt declared an emergency state on the border with Gaza on Wednesday following Israeli airstrikes on the strip, a security source told Aswat Masriya. The source added that army forces have stepped up caution in the Sinai Peninsula which falls on the border of Israel. Egypt’s presidential office said on …

Egyptian President Abdulfattah Al-Sisi directed his Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry on Thursday to head to the Iraqi capital and convey Egypt’s stance in support of Iraq. The current Iraqi crisis comes as the forefront of priorities for consultations on ways to restore national reconciliation between all parties involved in Iraq, …

Kurdish peshmerga forces took control of production facilities at two northern Iraqi oil fields Friday, replacing Arab workers with Kurdish personnel. The national oil ministry in Baghdad condemned the takeover at the Kirkuk and Bai Hassan fields and called on the Kurds to withdraw immediately to avoid “dire consequences.”

Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine have left the eastern town of Slaviansk and moved to Kramatorsk. Ukrainian defense Minister Valeriy Heletey and the chief of military staff of Ukraine, Viktor Muzhenko, informed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday that the national flag had been raised over the city council building. Slaviansk was seized in April …

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is meeting his counterpart Kristian Vigenin on July 7, during his official visit to Bulgaria. He is to mark the 135th anniversary since diplomatic relations were established between Bulgaria and Russia, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said in a statement to the media.

Amid growing calls for a fresh ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, the country’s president told U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden on Thursday that both Russia and the separatists were rejecting his efforts in this regard. In a phone conversation with Biden, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he had suggested a number …